Importance of Stormflow Sediment Loading for TMDL Development in Low-Gradient Forested Headwaters

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristopher R Brown ◽  
Yi-Jun Xu ◽  
Den Davis ◽  
Daniel L Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Drones ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Hupy ◽  
Cyril O. Wilson

Soil erosion monitoring is a pivotal exercise at macro through micro landscape levels, which directly informs environmental management at diverse spatial and temporal scales. The monitoring of soil erosion can be an arduous task when completed through ground-based surveys and there are uncertainties associated with the use of large-scale medium resolution image-based digital elevation models for estimating erosion rates. LiDAR derived elevation models have proven effective in modeling erosion, but such data proves costly to obtain, process, and analyze. The proliferation of images and other geospatial datasets generated by unmanned aerial systems (UAS) is increasingly able to reveal additional nuances that traditional geospatial datasets were not able to obtain due to the former’s higher spatial resolution. This study evaluated the efficacy of a UAS derived digital terrain model (DTM) to estimate surface flow and sediment loading in a fluvial aggregate excavation operation in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. A nested scale distributed hydrologic flow and sediment loading model was constructed for the UAS point cloud derived DTM. To evaluate the effectiveness of flow and sediment loading generated by the UAS point cloud derived DTM, a LiDAR derived DTM was used for comparison in consonance with several statistical measures of model efficiency. Results demonstrate that the UAS derived DTM can be used in modeling flow and sediment erosion estimation across space in the absence of a LiDAR-based derived DTM.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lifeng Yuan ◽  
Kenneth J. Forshay

Soil erosion and lake sediment loading are primary concerns of watershed managers around the world. In the Xinjiang River Basin of China, severe soil erosion occurs primarily during monsoon periods, resulting in sediment flow into Poyang Lake and subsequently causing lake water quality deterioration. Here, we identified high-risk soil erosion areas and conditions that drive sediment yield in a watershed system with limited available data to guide localized soil erosion control measures intended to support reduced sediment load into Poyang Lake. We used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to simulate monthly and annual sediment yield based on a calibrated SWAT streamflow model, identified where sediment originated, and determined what geographic factors drove the loading within the watershed. We applied monthly and daily streamflow discharge (1985–2009) and monthly suspended sediment load data (1985–2001) to Meigang station to conduct parameter sensitivity analysis, calibration, validation, and uncertainty analysis of the model. The coefficient of determination (R2), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), percent bias (PBIAS), and RMSE -observation’s standard deviation ratio (RSR) values of the monthly sediment load were 0.63, 0.62, 3.8%, and 0.61 during calibration, respectively. Spatially, the annual sediment yield rate ranged from 3 ton ha−1year−1 on riparian lowlands of the Xinjiang main channel to 33 ton ha−1year−1 on mountain highlands, with a basin-wide mean of 19 ton ha−1year−1. The study showed that 99.9% of the total land area suffered soil loss (greater than 5 ton ha−1year−1). More sediment originated from the southern mountain highlands than from the northern mountain highlands of the Xinjiang river channel. These results suggest that specific land use types and geographic conditions can be identified as hotspots of sediment source with relatively scarce data; in this case, orchards, barren lands, and mountain highlands with slopes greater than 25° were the primary sediment source areas. This study developed a reliable, physically-based streamflow model and illustrates critical source areas and conditions that influence sediment yield.


1998 ◽  
Vol 2 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 159-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Kooi ◽  
J. J. de Vries

Abstract. A one-dimensional model is used to investigate the relationship between land subsidence and compaction of basin sediments in response to sediment loading. Analysis of the model equations and numerical experiments demonstrate quasi-linear systems behaviour and show that rates of land subsidence due to compaction: (i) can attain a significant fraction (>40%) of the long-term sedimentation rate; (ii) are hydrodynamically delayed with respect to sediment loading. The delay is controlled by a compaction response time τc that can reach values of 10-5-107 yr for thick shale sequences. Both the behaviour of single sediment layers and multiple-layer systems are analysed. Subsequently the model is applied to the coastal area of the Netherlands to illustrate that lateral variability in compaction-derived land subsidence in sedimentary basins largely reflects the spatial variability in both sediment loading and compaction response time. Typical rates of compaction-derived subsidence predicted by the model are of the order of 0.1 mm/yr but may reach values in excess of 1 mm/yr under favourable conditions.


<em>Abstract.</em>—Using a combination of data sources and historic or contemporary accounts, we describe and document changes in the Hudson River watershed’s population size, agricultural and forested land uses, and the construction of dams, largely since the time of European colonization. Population within the watershed has grown from 230,000 at the time of the first census in 1790 to around 5 million today (not including parts of those boroughs of New York City outside the watershed, such as Queens). The watershed was almost entirely forested in 1609, with minor amounts of Indian agriculture. By 1880, approximately 68% of the watershed was farmland, but as soil productivity declined and industry created other jobs, much cleared land gradually reverted to secondary forest. Most land not in agriculture was forested and exploited first for lumber and tanbark and, later on, pulpwood for paper. The tanning industry existed from the 1700s, but reached its height in the mid-1800s, collapsing from a combination of resource (hemlock) exhaustion and market forces. Finally, available records list nearly 800 dams, ranging from 0.6 m to 213 m (Ashokan Reservoir) in height and with maximum storage of 1.07 km<sup>3</sup> (Sacandaga Reservoir), that were constructed from the early 18<sup>th</sup> century until 1993. The environmental legacies of these changes include effects on hydrology, soils, vegetation, biogeochemical cycling, sediment loading, and ecological relationships


2019 ◽  
Vol 220 (1) ◽  
pp. 384-392
Author(s):  
T Pico

SUMMARY Locally, the elevation of last interglacial (LIG; ∼122 ka) sea level markers is modulated by processes of vertical displacement, such as tectonic uplift or glacial isostatic adjustment, and these processes must be accounted for in deriving estimates of global ice volumes from geological sea level records. The impact of sediment loading on LIG sea level markers is generally not accounted for in these corrections, as it is assumed that the impact is negligible except in extremely high depositional settings, such as the world's largest river deltas. Here we perform a generalized test to assess the extent to which sediment loading may impact global variability in the present-day elevation of LIG sea level markers. We numerically simulate river sediment deposition using a diffusive model that incorporates a migrating shoreline to construct a global history of sedimentation over the last glacial cycle. We then calculate sea level changes due to this sediment loading using a gravitationally self-consistent model of glacial isostatic adjustment, and compare these predictions to a global compilation of LIG sea level data. We perform a statistical analysis, which accounts for spatial autocorrelation, across a global compilation of 1287 LIG sea level markers. Though limited by uncertainties in the LIG sea level database and the precise history of river deposition, this analysis suggests there is not a statistically significant global signal of sediment loading in LIG sea level markers. Nevertheless, at sites where LIG sea level markers have been measured, local sea level predicted using our simulated sediment loading history is perturbed up to 16 m. More generally, these predictions establish the relative sensitivity of different regions to sediment loading. Finally, we consider the implications of our results for estimates of tectonic uplift rates derived from LIG marine terraces; we predict that sediment loading causes 5–10 m of subsidence over the last glacial cycle at specific locations along active margin regions such as California and Barbados, where deriving long-term tectonic uplift rates from LIG shorelines is a common practice.


2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (12) ◽  
pp. 1712-1722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah S. Roley ◽  
Jennifer L. Tank

Freshwater mussels are in decline worldwide, but it remains challenging to link specific stressors to mussel declines. The clubshell mussel (Pleurobema clava) is a federally endangered species that spends most of its life completely buried beneath stream sediments. We tested the hypothesis that clubshell’s decline stems, in part, from low pore water dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations and toxic ammonia (NH3) levels, resulting from sedimentation of interstitial pore spaces. We measured pore water DO, NH3, interstitial sedimentation rates, and sediment organic matter content in the Tippecanoe River (Indiana, USA) at sites that spanned a range of clubshell populations, including two sites devoid of clubshell. We found little evidence for pore water NH3 stress, but pore water DO generally declined with clubshell population and dipped below stress thresholds more frequently at non-clubshell sites than at sites with clubshell. In addition, interstitial sedimentation rates generally increased as clubshell populations declined, suggesting that the low DO concentrations were the result of decreased pore water – surface water exchange. As a result, we conclude that maintaining or improving habitat for clubshell mussels will require the reduction of riverine sediment loading.


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